Sweet Woods

In the first novel published under her own name, Luciany Aparecida tells, with lyrical prose of singular power, the tragic events surrounding a small rural village in the interior of Bahia.

Maria Teresa lives with her mothers in an old mansion, full of stories of her ancestors, facing a stone outcrop. Along the stone wall runs a rose garden, with only white roses, and on the path in front of the house pass memorable characters: Mané da Gaita, a musician and sweet seller, and his dog Chula; Lai, a former prostitute, and her godmother; the twins Cícero and António, sons of the shop owner; Toni de Maximiliana, a cattle-killing cowboy, son of the priestess Mãe Maximiliana dos Santos; and Zezito, Luzia's only son, for whom Maria Teresa falls in love and with whom she plans to marry.

While trying on her wedding dress on a festive Saturday, one day before the wedding, a tragedy involving a violent and arbitrary landowner strikes Maria Teresa and changes her life forever.

Narrating the drama that becomes central, she gradually reveals to the reader the deepest feelings of those who inhabit Mata Doce. Then emerge, in a delicate narrative stitching, old family quarrels, secrets from the past, clandestine feelings, and many mysteries.

Mata Doce is an epic, delicate, and powerful novel that intertwines past and present in a majestic work, and already a landmark of contemporary Brazilian literature.